Media & Journalism
Distinguished
Kenneth Y. Best
born 1943
Founded the Daily Observer, and founded it again in exile
Distinguished is level 3 of 4 in the Liberia Hall of Fame: sustained excellence over a career, widely honoured at home. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
He started Liberia's first independent daily in 1981, was jailed and had his presses burned under Samuel Doe, was deported, founded The Observer in The Gambia, was expelled from there too, and came home and started again.
Kenneth Yarkpawolo Best founded the Daily Observer in Monrovia in February 1981, the first independent daily newspaper in Liberia's history, in the first year of Samuel Doe's military government.
The paper was banned four times, its offices were burned, and Best was arrested repeatedly before being deported in 1990. In exile in Banjul he founded The Observer, which became The Gambia's leading independent paper — and was expelled from The Gambia in 1994 within months of Yahya Jammeh taking power. He returned to Liberia after the war and revived the Daily Observer, which publishes still. Two countries' independent presses trace to the same man.
The paper was banned four times, its offices were burned, and Best was arrested repeatedly before being deported in 1990. In exile in Banjul he founded The Observer, which became The Gambia's leading independent paper — and was expelled from The Gambia in 1994 within months of Yahya Jammeh taking power. He returned to Liberia after the war and revived the Daily Observer, which publishes still. Two countries' independent presses trace to the same man.
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